Things have been kinda crazy busy lately.
First, I started attending Ren Faire Workshops (held weekends beginning March 13 on the Faire site - Irwindale - while Building was going on to turn the area into Faire as we know it) cause they were interesting and good improv/character development practice. I could see how some of the classes could be adapted for other groups that portray different time periods, such as one obviously dear to me - American Civil War. Though it was interesting stuff, and I enjoyed attending the classes (and challenging/stretching my creative side - Improv has never been my strong area, though I'm working on it) I actually hadn't completely decided if I was going to "participate" this year with one of the Guilds. Part of the issue was that I knew I couldn't commit to the *entire run* of Faire as I already had specific commitments for some upcoming dates that conflicted with Faire Dates. Committing to be there every weekend day for run of workshops, with the Dress Rehearsal date falling on Easter (4/3) this year, and then every weekend for run of Faire which starts April 10th and ends May 23rd...and then helping during Tear Down in the weekends that follow is a LOT of commitment. And already busy enough with other things that are important to me, so there's no way I could ever commit to ALL of that. There was a slim chance that one of the Guild's (St. Cuthbert's - Parades & Pageants) might take me in even if I couldn't attend the entire run or make all the 12 required workshops for a 1st time/year newbie (aka "apprentice").
Turns out, however, that I didn't have to make a decision - it was made for me in the form of my landlord giving me (email) notice on Thursday, March 25th* that he's selling the condo that I rent. Gah! And he insisted that the place be more clean/organized than it currently is for showing (and a bunch of other unreasonable demands given the time frame he gave me - he wanted it lok-boxed & signage up by end of week and clean/organized for show-able condition by end of Month...which meant Wed, March 31st!). Which means that a) this last week I've been busy cleaning organizing in almost all of my spare time, and b) I'm now looking for a place to live (rest of my spare time). I have no idea if my roommate wants to stay roommates and we find a place together or if she wants to go our separate ways (she told me she's exploring all her options right now and won't tell me either way at the moment), which leaves me in a bit of a quandary. And while the new owners (which may be in as little as 30 days, since landlord is advertising 30 day escrow cause he wants this place SOLD quick to earn some money - and no, he has no mortgage or liens on the place, my aunt did a title search and this address came up clean, so he's just trying to make some money...not being foreclosed upon) may be ok with tenants, there's NO GUARANTEE that they will want tenants. They may want to live here themselves. (By law, since we've been here over a year...actually its been 5 yrs now...we're required to have 60 day notice. BUT apparently there's a loophole that says if an escrow is open, only 30 days is required. Boo!!! Not that I've been informed escrow has started yet).
There was also the added twist of seeing if I could possibly afford to BUY a place. I've never seriously considered it, knowing that I would never qualify for loans, or whatever, just on my current income alone. Plus So California (and Orange County) is just plain old expensive! But they still have that government 1st time homeowner's incentive ($8K back) and my folks were willing to crunch some numbers to see if they could perhaps loan me the money (instead of me going to the bank) so that I could actually buy and have an investment for the future. (And of course I'd pay them back!) This looked like it may be possible, but we had to rush our thoughts and decisions so much, we felt pressured in making decisions - which is never good. And after looking at some possible places listed - I took one Saturday and drove around neighborhoods in Lake Forest to get an idea of where those listings where and what the places/neighborhoods looked like, how was parking, etc. - we discovered that with lower prices and enough investors plunking down cash still out there, there wasn't that much wiggle room for negotiating the price down (repairs, etc.) and you had to make a deal there and then when you found it or someone else might beat you too it. AGH!!! Don't need that pressure right now when I'm cleaning & organizing and just about to start packing up! So we're back to the drawing board right now. Focus on packing up and start looking for a short term lease so perhaps I can look for a place to buy later in the year. (Who knows? The Government may extend that 1st Time Homeowner's incentive again? They already did it once when it was expiring in November '09 and extended it through June of this year - so its conceivable.
So THAT'S been my crazy hectic life so far. Things have been going better at work at least. Haven't had any more problems with my accounting software since they did the system maintenance on 3/25 (yup same day as my notice) and updated things & migrated the software to a new server. So that's been nice to not have to worry about randomly not getting into the program cause of a stupid glitch or getting kicked out while in the middle of using it cause of a different glitch! :) Also been able to get almost completely caught up on my back-log of work. Also nice feeling! :)
Must run now - if I don't leave, I'll be late for work. Eek!
-=-B
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*Yes, got the notice same day as my trip up to Hollywood to see Tommy & the High Pilots perform at the Viper Room. That was a LOT of fun, and a good distraction from my troubles. I'll write a separate post about it and links to my pics online (there's some cool ones! :).
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